God Trusts You

Funny moment of the week:

Like I mentioned in my last email, sometimes we pick-up admirers throughout the week . Sister Merrill met this one young man on the bus and gave him a pass along card with our information. He called us one day and asked when he could see us. We told him he could come to FHE which is at the Senior couple's home. He said he works on Mondays but he asked for their post code anyway. I told him over the phone that we would send it to him but I hesitated to send it. Besides, we were leaving the flat to go street contacting. He called maybe 20 minutes later and the conversation went like this
 ''Why you no send me post code?'' (his English isn't the greatest).
''Oh I am so sorry! We were busy''
''Why?''

''Because there are people that want to learn about Jesus Christ and we were teaching them''

It may not sound that funny via email but his broken English and the sound of disappointment and concern in his voice made the situation funny.

The Lord is more than willing to give us blessings that we are very specific when we ask for them.
As we were walking to go street contacting one night, I started describing to Sister Merrill someone I wanted the Lord to place in my path. It was going to be a Chinese girl with a maroon coat, hair in a pony-tail, and most likely with glasses. I was determined to find someone that met this description. A couple minutes later, we spotted the girl I had pictured! We quickly approached her to talk to her. Her name is Sylvia and she is from Australia so her English is really good and I wasn't able to find out if she spoke Chinese or not. She told us her grandma is a Christian and she is happy when she goes to church but Sylvia herself doesn't find her self all that religious. I was just so shocked I was able to find the person I asked the Lord to put in my path I didn't really know what to say to her. She isn't interested in the gospel at the moment but I know the Lord is preparing her. There is no doubt that it was revelation that helped me picture her before I met her. Sister Merrill and I both felt as we talked to her that she is someone we needed to talk to that day.

So miracle in the process- Yan, my recent convert from Liverpool, found a job here in Manchester and will be able to extend her VISA! C Minor has to go back to China for a bit but he will be coming to Manchester soon as well. Woah. I pray that he will come back to England, continue to meet with missionaries, and feel ready for baptism this year.

There is a new YSA building located near Manchester University that will be opening next month. When Sister Merrill and I first got here we didn't have a specific date to tell people when it would be opening but we spread the news to the students and everyone in the area that it was due to be open soon. On Sunday they announced it will finally be opening in February and the first official sacrament being the 16th. This is huge news! The YSA building has been under  construction for 2 years and it was supposed to open last year. It will be the first building of its kind in Europe. We had our interviews with President Preston last week and he told Sister Merrill and I that missionaries would, I quote, ''cut off their right arm to be here'' at a time like this. We are going to fill that building when it opens:) so excited. 

Saturday was 4 hour consecrated finding through out the mission. A nice handful of the YSA and even the Bishop came finding with the missionaries. I love being able to work with the members.

Despite the students here being very busy with exams, we had 3  people that we invited come to church on Sunday! Woot! Pretty good for number for whitewashing and area.

This past week I went on exchange with one of the Sister Training Leaders here in my area. We had two appointments over the exchange that were quite the challenge. Both investigators had a TON of questions and concerns and frankly we did not have enough time or knowledge to answer them all. The great thing was we had YSA members at both lessons and with a team effort we were able to try to help these investigators find the answers that they wanted. At the end of the exchange I vented to my STL that lately in my mission I have felt like I always teach really difficult investigators with so many concerns that it feels like the lessons can get out of hand. She told me that maybe Heavenly Father wants me to grow from these experiences and that He trusts me to teach the children He has that have a lot of questions. Her insights brought me a lot of comfort. I guess it is true. God has blessed me with a great deal of patience and I am blessed to be able to use my talents to teach investigators like these. God truly does send us to where we need to be because of who we are and who we can become out of the experience. 

I am learning to face rejection and to keep moving on until we find those that are ready for the gospel. It is a process of weeding while we street contact. Sister Merrill and I have seen so many miracles so far as we have been on the street everyday talking with as many people as we can. Our investigator pool is growing and all of them have such great potential. We are starting to get busier which is nice because that means the majority of our days won't be finding  anymore.

 Remember that God knows us all perfectly and that our Savior, Jesus Christ, is able to strengthen us when we need it the most. I love being able to talk to my Heavenly Father in prayer at the end of each day and tell Him how I felt my day went and where I need His help. He hears and answers prayers.

I love you all!

Sister Jordan